


The New Arrival

by weepingwillow



Series: Merlin Memory Month Fics [12]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-25
Updated: 2017-05-25
Packaged: 2018-11-04 19:20:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10997319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weepingwillow/pseuds/weepingwillow
Summary: “Now, Arthur, there’s something I have to tell you.”





	The New Arrival

It was Arthur’s birthday and a feast had been prepared, just for him and his father. Unlike most days of the year, the attention was on him and not the kingdom. Arthur basked in it, choosing his favourite dishes from the table and talking to his father about what he’d been learning recently. He asked his father to recount the best scenes from his battles, Arthur’s preferred type of bedtime story, and he listened in enthralled rapture while eating cakes and sweetmeats prepared just for him.

 

After a while, though, his father’s face grew serious and he finished his last story with his fingers steepled. There was something else to come, Arthur knew.

 

“Now, Arthur, there’s something I have to tell you.”

 

Arthur could tell that he wasn’t going to like it already. His father had already given him presents - a wooden spear to train with on his horse and a brooch for his new cape - and when he had done that he had smiled. But now, his mouth was a thin line and the scar on his face was pronounced. It couldn’t be good news; good news was never this grave.

 

“A very dear friend of mine has died, and he has left behind him a daughter. She’s about your age, Arthur, and her name is Morgana. I cannot in good conscience leave her to fend for herself with only stewards to look after her, so I have offered to take her into the castle as my ward.”

 

Arthur frowned as his father spoke. He couldn’t tell how that affected him, at all. It was a large castle, so there was plenty of space for some girl to have a room of her own.

 

“Of course, she knows nothing of Camelot,” his father continued, “So I would need you, Arthur, to help me out by showing her around.”

 

Arthur pulled a face, but he nodded his agreement. He knew the castle very well, and it would be fun to show someone all the shortcuts and dead end passages, even if it had to be a girl.

 

“And she will need an education. I’ve been looking into the standard of yours, Arthur, and while a warrior’s life is commendable you have been spending far too much time with the knights.”

 

Arthur had to concentrate hard to follow his father’s words but he got the gist, and realised that his father was coming to a conclusion that he was not happy with. Too much time with the knights - if Arthur had his way, he’d spend all of his time with the knights. He loved watching them fight, loved practicing their moves on a straw dummy with his wooden sword. They had dogs and horses and got to stay outside and wrestle in the mud all day. Spending time with them was hours and hours of fun.

 

“I have spoken with Gaius,” his father said, “And I have decided to formalise your education. You and Morgana will spend each afternoon with Gaius or with Geoffrey learning history and geography, things like that.”

 

Arthur looked up to his father in despair.

 

“But father-”

 

“No buts, Arthur. This is what I have decided.”

 

Arthur groaned and dropped his head to the table.

 

\---

 

She arrived on the back of a horse wearing a pretty dress, a pretty cloak draped over her shoulders. They were dyed in deep jewel colours. She looked like a painting, Arthur thought, like a girl on a tapestry. He fidgeted a little as he stood on the steps of the castle, wearing his bright red cloak, and he watched as his father stepped forward to greet the tiny Lady Morgana and help her from her horse. Arthur folded his arms to hold his anger in. She could come, that was fine, but did she have to change everything?

 

\---

 

It was all her fault, Arthur thought as he flicked ink over at Morgana, while Geoffrey droned on about the different families of the kingdom. If Morgana hadn’t come, his father would never have taken him away from the knights and he wouldn’t have to be sitting here in this dusty room, hearing the sounds of the knights drilling underneath the monotonous voice of the genealogist, unable to watch them or to join them. She was a stupid girl, her hair in stupid pretty plaits, wearing a new dress. She wouldn’t be able to run in that dress. It was too delicate, the skirts too long. She wouldn’t be able to do anything much without muddying her pretty clothes, without pulling her hair out from its pins. She was boring, and annoying, and Arthur hated her already.

 

Morgana turned and glared at him, then flicked a rolled up piece of parchment at him. It actually hurt. He rubbed at his forehead, where it had hit. Morgana actually had a pretty good aim, he thought. He looked to the front of the room, where Geoffrey was still holding forth about the nobles.

  
Arthur turned back to Morgana, to see her tearing off another strip of parchment and rolling it up, ready for a fight. A game, right beneath their teacher’s nose. It wasn’t as good as being with the knights, but if he had to spend his days in a classroom with a girl, perhaps this one wouldn’t be so bad after all.


End file.
